Roseanne
grew up watching the women of her family and community, learning their stories
and artmaking practice. Cultural knowledge is traditionally passed through
matrilineal and patrilineal kinship lines; the generational stories depicted by
Roseanne have been passed from grandmother, to daughter, now to granddaughter. In
this painting, Roseanne depicts a Bush Medicine design. Artworks featuring this
design emerged from Utopia; Roseanne’s great-auntie, Gloria Petyarre (1945-2021),
is considered the “grandmother” of this mesmerising style. There are many
interpretations of the Bush Medicine brushwork designs, as many of Gloria’s
relatives continue to paint the story.
There are a variety of native plants from
Roseanne’s ancestral country that offer healing and restorative properties as
part of traditional medicine practices, as well as being a significant part of
Awelye, women’s ceremony. One method of preparing bush medicine involves laying
the leaves out to dry in the sun, so they can be crushed into a fine powder and
mixed with animal fats and oils to create a healing balm. By painting this
design, Anmatyerre women honor the spirit of the plant.